2015 Blog Wins

Design Teams

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Patchwork Love....take #2

A few days back I blogged a card using the new trio from Lili of the Valley called Patchwork Love. There were 9 new trio sets launched on Thursday and as predicted they are just flying out the door. I knew everyone would love them.  And on top of such gorgeous new stamps you can get free worldwide shipping on all orders at the moment.  Pretty hard to resist.

Here is another card using only one of the stamps from the Patchwork Love trio.  Included in each set are little sentiments and I have used one of them to create my background paper.  For the background of the image I used a very, very light wash of palest pink and then using a series of little white dots made a pattern to give the look of lace.  Then I added glossy accents to the hearts for a bit of lift.  Finishing off with twine and a little button and a few sequins.  The trio sets really are great value.



The temperature has dropped a few degrees this evening due to a torrential downpour this afternoon. Thunder, lightning, the works.  I was driving at the time, having just dropped my daughter at her friends, and had to pull over and wait for it to ease as the visibility was so low.  Its a welcome relief after the humidity of the past week thats for sure.

Thanks for looking in today.  
Hope you have a lovely day.

Karen
xo


Friday, January 29, 2016

Awesome!!!

Awesome.  I got to thinking....it's the heat okay!!!   Actually its because a young man in a stationery shop said "awesome" when I paid for my stamping card.  I got to wondering, was that truly an awesome experience or is it a word we use for anything these days.   It's a word that rolls off the tongue to describe a cup of coffee, a slice of pizza,  a t-shirt hanging in a shop window or even gets used instead of thank you.

What it actually means according to the dictionary is something that inspires awe.  Awe is a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.  I'm pretty sure the young man was not inspired by awe at the sight of my white card or my eftpos card.  He just used it instead of saying thank you.  How the english language transforms???

Okay so all that said,  I was inspired to create a card using the "awesome" die from Frantic Stamper Inc.  A card I could give to any number of people that are awesome in the true sense of the word.

I also used the cute little puzzle piece die that when cut can interlock with itself.  Clever...or maybe awesome!!!  I die cut the word from my puzzle strip plus as additional four from card stock and stacked them up,  adding a coat of glossy accents for some dimension. To add some lift I die cut a scalloped border  in red.  Made a little tag to say "you are" and added a cute little owl and a few finishing sequins.  


Here are the Frantic Stamper Inc products I used 

Thanks for coming by today.
Karen
xo

Monday, January 25, 2016

4 colours


I have had some Paper Smooches stamps and dies sitting untouched on my desk for a bit now. 

When I went away to the beach I took the stamps with me and stamped and coloured up some flowers.  I didn't  have my cuttlebug with me as I do have the matching dies.    Its a little difficult to see how the flowers all fit together so I decided to cut them out by hand as I did have scissors with me.  When I got home I turned them into a card.  

The January challenge at Paper Smooches is to use only 4 colours plus a neutral, so technically 5 colours.  I used white, brown, green, yellow and watermelon.  The Paper Smooches stamp set is called Natural Beauties.





Its so humid and sticky here today.  Its been like this for several days now.  I will be very happy to see the rain as it looks like clouds are gathering.  A little bit of welcome relief that's for sure.

Hope you come back soon.

Karen
xo



Sunday, January 24, 2016

Frantic little monsters

I am so excited to be Guest Designing for Frantic Stampers Inc.  They have such a wonderful range of dies and stamps for all occasions.  Frantic Stampers products are very good quality, the stamps are clear and detailed and the dies cut perfectly, my lining up is not always great but the dies and stamps sure are.

Quickly becoming a favourite is the lovely little set called Monster Mash.  There is a stamp set and co-ordinating dies.  They are so cute and I just love the sentiments that go with the set.  I also used a window die to cut the Frame for my monsters.



Here are the Frantic Stamper products I have used.

Monster Mash Clear Stamp set
Monster Mash Die Set
Double size Rectangle and 2 window Die Series #4

Told you they were cute.  Be sure to check them out at the above link and also  visit the Frantic Stamper blog where you will find another card I made using this same set and an "awesome" die.



Thanks for dropping in, hope to see you back soon.

Karen
xo


Saturday, January 23, 2016

Jumbo Wishes

Elephants seem to be a poplular animal for stamps recently.   I've seen them around in all sorts of poses so I was pretty excited when Lili of the Valley added an elephant to their last release as part of the Faraway friends set.

I decided to do something a little different and stamped Jumbo and made it into my background paper.   I stamped the sentiment to form a strip and backed it in a bit of scrap grey I managed to find, as grey it seems,  is not a colour I have much of.  As I had coloured the flowers red I felt I needed to bring it in somewhere else. I ended up with some feet poking out so stamped and fussy cut another elephant to pop on top.   Finishing touch was to add the two flowers like Jumbo was carrying in his trunk.



This was a really fun card to make.  Thanks for dropping in.

Karen
xo

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Hey Friend!!!

Its time for a new challenge at Southern Girls.  It's Anything Goes this time so come join in.    My image comes from one of the lovely sponsors for this challenge The Eastwind.

We have some new members to the team so drop on over to say hi.  For 2016 I am joining the talented group of lovelies in Team Lou, which reminds me to go and update my sidebar info....

So here is my card, I love these two girlies on their bicycle.  I fussy cut them out so I could pop them up,  took a bit of time to do, I might add.   Its such a great image I kept my background pretty simple making a kind of road and adding a few hearts and sequins.



Come on over and join us, we love to see all your creations.

Karen
xo

Popping this into the challenge at
The Ribbon Girl  January Any image

Monday, January 18, 2016

Patchwork Love Trio

Very soon, end of January,  Lili of the Valley will be launching 8 new trio sets.  These are going to be super popular as are all their wonderful trio sets.  I'm going to put it out there that these are the best yet!!!  The set that I am sneaking/showcasing is called Patchwork Love and love them I do.

I kind of went a bit "flower power" with my colour choice.  After fussy cutting and colouring I used some glossy accents and then worked the back to form a dome shape so they sit up off the background in almost a bubble rather than flat.....if you get what I mean. The sentiment is also included in this set along with a couple of others.

Pop over to the website as there are pictures of the other sets....I know you're going to love them.


Thanks for your visit today.
Karen
xo